Carrefour Group, a renowned global retail organization, takes pride in its diverse range of activities that cater to the needs of its customers worldwide. From offering a wide array of food and non-food products to providing a host of convenient services, Carrefour aims to fulfill the requirements of its customers while promoting responsible and sustainable practices. This article explores into Carrefour’s core activities, its commitment to quality, its focus on sustainability, and the exceptional services it provides to its valued customers.
Carrefour Activities: Products and Services for Everyone
Carrefour’s activities are strategically designed to encompass a comprehensive array of products and services that cater to a diverse customer base. Under its brand, Carrefour ensures that all its products, whether food or non-food items, meet the same high standards of quality, responsibility, and affordability. The company prioritizes both the origins and production conditions of its fresh products, ensuring food and environmental safety throughout the partnership with producers.
Food Products: At the Heart of Carrefour’s Strategy
As a food retailer, Carrefour places emphasis on supporting short supply chains that promote local producers, ensuring the freshness and taste of the products while reducing fuel consumption. In France, a significant 92% of fruit and vegetables come from local French producers. Expert artisans, market gardeners, cheese-makers, bakers, butchers, and fishmongers meticulously select and present quality products on their counters.
Carrefour’s retailer brand food products, such as Carrefour, Carrefour Bio (organic products), Carrefour Baby, Carrefour No Gluten, and Carrefour Veggie, meet customers’ essential requirements with guarantees of quality and safety at fair prices. Additionally, Carrefour’s “Act for Food” program reinforces the company’s commitment to offering organic, local, “free from,” animal welfare-conscious, and vegan products.
Innovating Non-Food Offerings to Meet Evolving Needs
Carrefour acknowledges that consumption habits evolve over time, and in response, it continuously innovates its non-food offerings. By focusing on areas that resonate with its customers, such as childcare, household, textiles, and seasonal products, Carrefour adapts to changing preferences and demands. The company’s omnichannel strategy, powered by partnerships with entities like rueducommerce and Fnac-Darty, caters to modern consumption trends and enhances customer experiences.
Comprehensive Services: Choice, Quality, and Affordability
Carrefour is not just a retailer of products; it also offers an extensive range of local services. These services include package collection, key cutting, vehicle hire, pharmacies, health and beauty products, and fuel delivery. Depending on the store’s size and customer needs, these services are made easily accessible in-store or through complementary online and mobile platforms. Carrefour excels in offering competitive prices, ensuring its services are among the most attractive in the market.
Banking and Insurance Services for Added Value
Carrefour has expanded its offerings to include financial services such as credit and savings products, designed to help customers with their financial plans and day-to-day needs. Carrefour Banque, the company’s banking subsidiary, operates in France, Italy, and Belgium, serving over 2.2 million customers with exclusive benefits and significant savings opportunities. The bank also fosters innovation and strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings and cater to customer diversification needs.
Promoting Sustainability: Responsible Practices and Energy Efficiency
As part of its strategic vision, Carrefour actively promotes sustainability and responsible practices. The company favors short supply chains for food products to support local producers and reduce the environmental impact of transportation. In addition, Carrefour aims to offer products that are respectful of animal welfare and contribute to the well-being of the planet.
Carrefour also endeavors to reduce customers’ energy bills by providing the best prices on fuels in numerous service stations adjoining hypermarkets and supermarkets. By prioritizing energy efficiency, Carrefour not only benefits its customers but also contributes to environmental conservation.
Carrefour’s Food Transition: Pioneering Accessible and Sustainable Nutrition
Carrefour Group, a pioneer in large-scale retailing, has taken on the challenge of making the food transition central to its strategy. Recognizing the urgency of the issue and the impact of our food choices on the environment, Carrefour launched the “Act for Food” program in September 2018. This initiative aims to make healthy, quality, and sustainably produced food accessible to everyone. With a focus on guaranteeing food safety, promoting local produce, and encouraging responsible practices, Carrefour’s commitment to the food transition goes beyond its stores, involving stakeholders from across the spectrum. This article explores Carrefour’s concrete actions and its Food Advisory Committee’s role in driving the global food transition.
Why the Food Transition Concerns Us All
The global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, and 38.9% of adults are already classified as overweight or obese. Agriculture contributes 24% of greenhouse gas emissions, and organic food sales reached €92.8 billion in 2017, with 7.5% of French farmland used for organic farming in 2018. However, only 28% of French people claim to buy products that respect animal welfare. These numbers underscore the need for collective action in the food transition.
Act for Food: The Food Transition in Action
Carrefour’s ambition to become the world leader in the food transition involves a long-term model change. Key actions include guaranteeing quality and food safety, making quality products available at fair prices, and recognizing that we are all stakeholders in this transition. Producers, manufacturers, employees, politicians, associations, NGOs, and consumers all play a crucial role in driving change. By strengthening partnerships between employees, startups, associations, and NGOs, Carrefour aims to bring about impactful change and raise awareness among consumers about the importance of seasonality, waste reduction, and avoiding food waste.
The Food Advisory Committee: Guiding the Transition
To ensure expertise and guidance in the food transition, Carrefour established the Food Advisory Committee in September 2018. Comprising seven personalities known for their activities in the food transition area, the committee meets twice a year to address crucial topics such as food waste, the true cost of food, soil-friendly farming, and innovative commerce and store models. The committee’s insights and recommendations inform Carrefour’s future commitments under the Act for Food program.
Concrete Actions for Food Transition
The Act for Food commitments are being implemented across the 30 countries where Carrefour operates. In France, the program comprises 13 major actions. Some notable commitments include guaranteeing that Carrefour Bio brand fresh products are 100% French organic, removing 100 questionable substances from all Carrefour food products, reducing the use of chemical pesticides in crop sectors, eliminating antibiotic treatment in Carrefour Quality Line livestock, and ensuring responsible fishing and aquaculture certified fish. These actions reflect Carrefour’s dedication to providing sustainable and healthy food options to its customers.
Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Food
Carrefour’s “Act for Food” program exemplifies its unwavering commitment to the food transition and providing accessible and sustainable nutrition to all. As a pioneer in the retail industry, Carrefour recognizes its role in shaping the future of food consumption. With concrete actions and a dedicated Food Advisory Committee, Carrefour is leading the charge towards a healthier, environmentally responsible, and inclusive food ecosystem. By working together with stakeholders, Carrefour is making significant strides in the food transition, promising a brighter and more sustainable future for generations to come.
